What is the deal lately! Everyones problem is computer is running slow! Either slow or downloaded updates dont work! This is getting rediculous!

Hmm... no problems here. :)

Me either but check out the xp forum!

My guess is its novice users who just bought a first computer and inadvertently download malicious programs.
The fact that most of them dont know about Spybot,Ad aware,HT ect. requires them to post here.

No, the end of the internet isn't here, it is just getting messy and outright dangerous, and will get worse over time.

That aside though, what you are seeing is the effects of the daily creation of new viruses, trojans, worms and hacking methods. There especially seems to be more hacking attempts lately. But, no one should really be that surprised, we were warned from the very beginning that one day these things would occur.

Look where we are now, you can bring down countries using the internet, so why does it surprise a regular Joe that he/she can be attacked on his/her own computer in the privacy of their own home?

A lot of these people you see in here having these problems are the ones, who, despite being warned to do so, have failed to properly protect their computers from these threats and are paying the price. Others simply aren't maintaining their systems like they should and are getting poor performance.

But mostly, it is the viruses, worms and trojans. I'm still waiting for the victims of the Microsoft e-mail to come flooding in here. I know they are out there, and so do most of the regulars in here. None of believe for one second that no one will be stupid enough to open these things, because the truth is, a big majority are stupid enough.

Yeah Chunko, you got it, they don't know about these programs, and, even when they do find them, they think they don't need them.

Yeah I know what is going on, I just wanted to strike a little conversation on the matter!

Yeah, I always like having discussions about the current state of the internet and where it is headed :-)

I was one of those novices a few weeks back and in their defence, they are simply sold a computer which they need for work or something and it comes internet ready. It does't come with a warning booklet advising you to download a ton of different programs.

Yet the moment they open the internet, before they even come across a helpfull site like this, they manage to receive numerous bits of software that they didn't want.

No I won't stand up for those that see a banner saying they have won a million ad click on it, the same people who think that getting a consolidation loan from a company able to afford numerous prime time adverts, will save them money. But you don't even have to be that stupid to get virus these days.

Unfortunatley I can't think of any feasable solutions to the problem.

You know, maybe computers should come with a sort of do's and dont's booklet. I see no reason why not, most products come with warnings about how NOT to use a product along with instructions on how to use it.

I may get heat for it, but I truly believe that by now, there really is no excuse to not know you need at least an antivirus product. I mean, come on, if you even watch the news and no nothing about computers, you'll know that there are many viruses and worms out there.

No, it isn't only idiots who catch the viruses, experts do too. I don't care how much you know or how long you've known it, or even how long you've gone without catching one, you WILL catch a virus at some point. Viruses, trojans, and worms are getting more and more intelligent, and it is merely a matter of time before even the most careful person gets something he/she doesn't want.

I'm fairly armed to the teeth with anti-spyware programs, a firewall, antivirus, even a program that inserts "bad domains" in your Restricted Zone in IE6. Yet I realize that the internet is millions of webpages and websites and that no program, regardless of how good, can protect you from them all, and that means that I will eventually get a virus or some other awful thing on here and have to deal with it.

I am much safer than I was before I installed a lot of these programs, and I know what type of sites to generally stay away from, but am I 100% protected without even a chance of something getting on here? Only a fool would believe such a thing.

good god noooooooo! its Netagedon!!!!!!!
netagedon has come all ecomerace will cease no more spam what will we do with our time??
netagedon the end of all thingssssssss!
lol

By the way GB, I also cannot think of anything that would truly work to prevent these things. I mean, you can make laws dealing strictly with the internet, but good luck trying to enforce them.

The truth is, the internet is the true Wild West, and the only way to really keep it in line is to adopt a "Big Brother" type of strategy, which no one in their right mind wants (But we'll get it anyway).

We've tried putting bounties on virus writers and that isn't cutting it, we've tried a lot of things and look where we still are.

Lol@Netageddon, that's cute :-) How come spam is the only darn thing I've never had to deal with? lol.

"How come spam is the only darn thing I've never had to deal with?"

dw226, by deleting the crap and blocking
cookies I get about 1 a day now.

And who spells P .Orn this way?
A spammer trying to get past filters,
one click they own you.

My ISP also seems to help, when I was with Earthlink and MSN, I was buried under a mountain of it, even if I tried to make sure I didn't give my real address out.